aspir(al)ing

Anniversary.

Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, health

Today marks my one year anniversary since being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Upon reading a journal that I kept at the time, I seemed hopeful that I would be able to manage my blood sugar and mitigate complications. As hopeful as I was, I have to say that I have exceeded my expectations as far as my progress goes. The fact that I was able to get off of meds and lose as much fat and gain as much muscle as I have is quite remarkable. What’s even more remarkable is that I didn’t deprive myself of much; I just made sure that if I wanted something good to eat, I’d just have to earn it with exercise and that I would always have to be cautious of not overdoing it. And even though it’s been one year, I know this not the “end of the road” — it has to be a continuing journey…
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So What’s New?

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta, chub chub, health, heart, watashi

There is so much I want to chronicle regarding my journey in managing my diabetes, arthritis, and just my overall well being. I decided to do it in a microblog powered by Tumblr called terri-is.aspiraling. While that blog is meant to chronicle what’s currently going on, I want something on the record to show what I’ve done with myself for the past year as far as my health goes. I decided that I’ll just do the lazy thing and put nearly a year’s worth of updates in bullet points. If I ever find the time, I may, just may, elaborate. And if you have been reading my Twitter (which I update about 5 times a day) you might very well be up to date already.
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Short Story Long.

Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, health, watashi

I lately have been oversharing a lot of bits about my health these past several months. When using Twitter, I have been rather ambiguous about my condition, while being more specific in my blog. Unfortunately, my blog has been rather ignored (per usual) and so all there has been lately is ambiguity as to what I’m dealing with right now.

First of all, let me say that I am not going through anything gravely serious. I am not looking for sympathy or pity, because what I’m going through certainly doesn’t warrant it. I do want people to understand what is motivating me to take better evaluation of my health and why I may seem “healthier” these days when in actuality, I am just trying to mitigate any problems I may have in the future due to my current ailments.
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Mandated to be Motivated.

Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, health, watashi

I haven’t put an entry in over a month. Anyone who reads or subscribes to this blog would think, “Well, you hardly update that often anyway.” What I am happy to report is that I actually have two good excuses. Today’s entry: Good Excuse #1.

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Working It Out.

Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, digital life, tunes

It’s been over month since I got my new iPod Nano, and so I guess it’s about time I write about how that’s working out as well as how I have been “working out.” As I mentioned, I got the Nano with the intent of taking it with me when I take a walk around my neighborhood or wherever else my legs take me (while sparing my iPhone.) It has been rather successful as I have been putting some exercise into my day. It was a little scary that a man that got stabbed to death near my house on my walking route, but nonetheless, I’ve been trying to go whenever I have an evening alone. My energy levels have been pretty good lately and I think taking regular walks has mitigated my stress levels a little bit. Unfortunately I just haven’t been entirely motivated to do it everyday, but I guess I can celebrate the baby steps.

And in the spirit of trying to improve my wellness, I recently obtained a Wii Fit. It was actually a gift from a friend who remembers me from a time when I wasn’t so pudgy. I guess you could call it a “Wow, you got fat” gift, which I can definitely appreciate. I think it’s a rather fun motivator for fitness, though it can be useless if you do everything half-assed. I do wish it had better aerobic exercises, but it’s fairly good for the yoga and strength training exercises, not to mention for being a very expensive scale.

The Wii Fit, like with any “fitness program,” helps you set goals. Without much motivation, I really have difficulty achieving goals, but I suppose I should give this one a shot. I think it’s a matter of really taking advantage of the fact that I have a set work schedule, and that I need to stick to a routine. I guess it’s a matter of being motivated and not so easily distracted by the million other things I want to do. (And most of them involve sitting on my ass at the computer.)

Ha, well let’s see how THAT goes.

If anything, I’ve been able to listen to some fun music and some interesting podcasts while taking my Nano out for my walks. I’ve been tweaking with my playlists and I came up with these 10 songs that I think are the best for moving to. (I’m afraid to say that I haven’t used the Genius feature as much as I would have liked.)

“Just Dance” – Lady GaGa
“Little of Your Time” – Maroon 5
“Gotta Get Thru This” – Daniel Bedingfield
“What You Waiting For” – Gwen Stefani
“My Sharona” – The Knack
“Shake It” – Metro Station
“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” – Daft Punk
“Technologic” – Daft Punk
“Step By Step” – New Kids on the Block
“Fascinated” – Company B

And so the question for you is, do you have a favorite song you like to move to?

Worth the weight?

Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, natsukashii, watashi

I spent my day off alone today, so I figure I might as well do something productive that I can do myself and that of course was cleaning my house, namely my old room. I am ashamed to say that my old room has not seen a cleaning in more than 10 years. It has mostly been used for storage of all my stuff. Up until lately, I’ve been kind of a pack rat, but in my recent housecleaning frenzy, I’ve learned to get rid of stuff — not keeping things just for the littlest sentimental value. You can imagine that it in 10 years, a lot of stuff accumulates and rummaging through it becomes this wonderful trip down memory lane. And though there are so many things I could write about for the sake of nostalgia, I think it’s more appropriate to write about what I realize I need to do for my future.
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Aloha!

Hello from the island of O'ahu in the beautiful state of Hawaii. I am terri, a local girl who at 30 is trying to make sure that life doesn't entirely pass her by. I've recently become engaged and am enjoying living a great life in paradise.